Mariners, Diamondbacks swap for Kyle Lewis, Cooper Hamill

Mariners and Diamondbacks trade young league players, reportedly agree to one-to-one deal with outfield mover/DH Kyle Lewis to Arizona. The Mariners returned the catcher/outfielder Cooper Hamill in contrast.

Lewis is the most famous of the players involved. A Seattle first-round pick in 2016, he bounced back from a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during his first professional season to move up the minor league ranks. The Mercer University product hit the major leagues late in the 2019 season, and looked as if it had solidified itself as a key part of the organization the following year.

During the shortened 2020 campaign, Lewis appeared in 58 games and recorded 242 plate appearances. He hit 11 home runs and walked in an impressive 14% of his runs en route to a .262/.364/.437 streak. This offensive production was 27 percentage points higher than the league average, measured by WRC+, and earned him American League Rookie of the Year honors.

Few would have imagined Lewis would only spend another two years in Seattle coming off this season, but he quickly fell off the depth chart. This is due less to performance than to an unfortunate series of injuries to his right knee, which has proven to be a constant problem. Lewis started the 2021 campaign on the injured list, and a comeback in April proved to fall short. He returned to the rack in early June, and the couple later announced that he had torn his meniscus. He ended up missing the remainder of the season and never recovered in time for the start of this year.

Lewis opened the 2022 campaign again at IL. He was reinstated on May 25, nearly a full year since his previous MLB game. After a handful of games, he unfortunately suffered a concussion and spent another two months at IL. Lewis returned in late July, played in 14 more games, and was then optioned to Triple-A Tacoma. He spent the rest of the season there but had a solid performance, putting up a .245/.362/.517 streak with 12 starters through 42 games there.

There is a distinct danger for the D-Backs against a player who has appeared in just 54 MLB contests over the past two years. He has never captained 58 big league games in a season and has 130 career starts and 526 plate appearances under his belt. However, it’s also easy to see the charisma of general manager Mike Hazen and his dice-rolling group on Louis’ upside. During his only healthy season, he displayed the apparent strength and plate discipline that earned him the highest respect. There is a fair amount of swing and miss in his game, but he has a chance of being a mediocre bat if he’s healthy.

Lewis spent some time in center field as a minor leaguer and early in his big game career, but was almost exclusively a designated hitter this past season. He’s capable of embedding at the outside corner and might still be able to run up the middle if need be, but the Diamondbacks won’t count on him much in center field – if at all. Corbin CarrollAnd the Dalton FarshawAnd the Jake McCarthy And the Alec Thomas They are all talented defenders, and Carroll and Varshaw figure to get a good amount of playing time in the middle. Hazen has expressed his willingness to sign one of those players if he helps him elsewhere on the roster, but the depth of Arizona’s extra defenders should give them the chance to keep Lewis off his feet as a DH.

Adding some right-handed pop was also a major offseason goal for Arizona, and Lewis could be a valid long-term bat in the desert. He’s still only 27 years old and has two years and 146 days of major league service time. This qualifies him for early refereeing as a Super Two player, but MLBTR contributor Matt Schwartz is offering him for a mere $1.2 million salary. He’s arbitration-eligible through 2026, and career injuries have prevented Lewis from building the kind of resume that will be handsomely rewarded by that process thus far.

Lewis’ departure would be upsetting for Mariners fans, but it looks increasingly likely that he will knock Seattle out on a layup next. get Teuscar Hernandez From the Blue Jays yesterday. As another right-handed batter/DH, Hernandez made Luis an unnecessary roster presence. Julio Rodriguez Cementing itself as a position player of excellence, M still has a number of internal options – Jesse WinkerAnd the Jared KilinickAnd the Taylor TrammellAnd the Sam Hagerty And the Dylan Moore – as left field potential. The M’s have reportedly floated the Winker name in trade talks, but they can either look at a left field upgrade or count on some of their smaller options even if they send the former Red elsewhere.

In exchange for Lewis, they’re bringing in a player with more defensive flexibility. Hummel, 28 next month, was drafted first by the Brewers in 2016. Acquired by Arizona State at the 2021 trade deadline in a deal that sent a veteran Eduardo Escobar to Milwaukee. The right-handed hitter was sitting at the .254/.435/.508 line in Triple-A at the time, and the Snakes gave him his first big league shot of the year.

Hamill slugged his first 66 games in MLB, hitting just .176/.274/.307 with three homers in 201 games. He hit 31.8% of his plate appearances during that span, but walked a solid 11.4% clip. Hamill also continued to find success with Arizona’s largest minor league affiliate, posting a .310/.423/.527 streak in 33 games in Reno. In over 500 career appearances at the Triple-A level, the Oregon native has a 0.310/.429/.540 streak with an incredible 16.7% walk rate.

On the defensive side of the ball, Hummel divided his time between catcher and cornerback pitch. He had 14 MLB starts behind plate, 17 tackles in left field, and a designated hitter. Hummel was never considered by prospective evaluators as a potential daily catcher, but M’s don’t need to be with him Cal Raleigh as their privilege. Hummel can play as an occasional catcher and an outfield option off the bench, and he can still be selected to the minor leagues in each of the next two years. He is a flexible deep piece and has less than a full year of big league service. He will not qualify for arbitration until at least after the 2024 season.

ESPN’s Jeff Bassin I first reported that the D-Backs and Mariners were exchanging Lewis and Hamel.

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